Letters to the Editor: Dec. 2

Thanks for your article on the PSW crisis in Ontario. My parents have been victims of the poor management of Ontario home care for the last year.

The workers themselves are for the most part wonderful people who have been given an impossible job at minimal pay. None of our well-paid health-care bureaucrats would do the job as it exists.

There are also issues around the monopoly that private companies have in the area of home care and long-term-care facilities. Employees are treated poorly while private agencies are reaping huge profits from the pool of our public health dollars.

The system victimizes its clients, who are often unable to advocate for themselves.

The government will not admit it is the poor wages and working conditions that have resulted in this dire shortage of workers willing to undertake this important and demanding job.

Stephen Holowitz

London

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Vital work

Regarding the article Support worker crisis hits patients where they live (Nov. 25).

To become a personal support worker, you need to take a two-semester course at a college such as Fanshawe. The program costs in excess of $5,000.

Hospitals seem to pay PSWs the best at about $22 an hour, but workers wait a long time before becoming full time, and the hours can be minimal at times. Nursing homes are $16 to 18 per hour, but many facilities lack a lot of basic necessities to enable PSWs to perform their duties. Home-care operators require a lot of travel and give short notice of assignments. Income is about the same as in nursing homes.

This vital employment would be more attractive if management in all organizations improved wages and benefits while ensuring full-time employment. These costs could be offset by controlling waste and cutting back on unnecessary upper management and directors.

Is it not worth your while to see talented PSWs earn a reasonable wage to look after your parents or grandparents? If not, the talent pool will not grow.

Dennis Lee

London

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What a waste

Regarding the article As landfill’s time ticks down, city mulls plans to build it up (Nov. 27).

Due to poor planning by Jay Stanford and his helpers at the garbage dump department, our main dump site is running out of space. But why? We are aware we live in a throwaway society. And manufacturers don’t help with their packaging.

I have seen so much solid waste at curbside (furniture, box springs, mattresses). A lot of it could be avoided. Plus, a lot of it is plastic toys that do not degrade.

Hold a public meeting and focus on how the our main city dump can be more efficient. Town hall meetings wander off topic too easily.

Why build a skyscraper of a dump? That just shows your job ineffectiveness. I suggested a few things in past emails to the dump committee, such as a conveyor belt of trash to sort properly. But we know how cheap the city is.

R. Hanson

London

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Reach for real

Regarding the article Fearing the frankenfoods (Nov 27).

In the past 30 years or so, life has become busy and stressful. The microwave oven, heat-and-serve convenience foods and fast food have become the norm.

Old-style cooking is not complicated and can be quick. It has become unlearned and lost to marketing, but it’s making a comeback because there is something very wrong with the human condition. Health statistics are frightening and percentages are alarming and now, science has proven the connection between gut and mind.

We live in a land that provides real food. Reach for it. Your body will appreciate it.

Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown’s revenue-­neutral carbon tax proposal shows he is willing to take a principled rather than populous stance on arguably the most challenging political issue — climate change. His proposal guarantees cuts to our income and small-business taxes, while citizens can manage their carbon tax expenditures through purchasing choices — a fair trade-off.

Had he punted on climate by relying solely on tired slogans such as axe the tax, it would have been an admission he did not have the imagination and/or courage to propose well-thought-out climate/economic policy.

Although some Conservative supporters may be scratching their heads over Brown’s carbon tax proposal, his leadership direction, to borrow from former U.S. First Lady Rosalynn Carter, “takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”

Selley is correct: Brown’s platform transforms the Ontario political landscape and gives voters substantive policies to consider and compare.

Greg Beal

Ilderton

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Political playtime

It is so nice to hear the pitter patter of little feet as they scurry to and fro exercising their imaginations during recess.

At centre stage, two explore childish flirtations — a behaviour once warranting the strap. In the sandbox surrounded by Tonka toys, another digs a tunnel to an imaginary world, oblivious to a lad pouring his water bottle into a stream that breaks a makeshift dam and carries on downstream.

Another, while lying on his stomach with his knees bent and crossed, moves small coloured blocks back and forth configuring roads and bus routes for imaginary passengers.

All great fun, but the bell rings, recess is over and it’s time to put away their toys and return to class. First lesson is municipal politics, and reasons to be re-elected.

Christine Morgan

London

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Warren wrong

I take exception to some of the statements in Michael Warren’s column on President Donald Trump in Be careful what you wish for (Nov. 25).

I’ve always liked and read Warren’s columns, even though I do not always agree with his views. But his bashing of Trump’s policies includes some inaccuracies and exaggerations.

On immigration, Warren states that Trump’s policies have had no effect on U.S. immigration. While it’s true that U.S. immigration laws have not yet been changed, illegal immigration is down about 50 to 70 per cent.

On North Korea, it’s true that this country has been “a ticking time bomb for years.” That’s because previous U.S. administrations have done little to rein in this country’s nuclear ambitions.

At least Trump is trying to organize China, the U.S. and other countries to try to harness North Korea’s drive to become a nuclear power.

On tax reform, Warren states Trump’s tax plan will give rich Americans a tax cut. This is not true: tax brackets are being reduced from seven to four, with tax reductions in all tax brackets. There is also a large tax cut for corporations, with tax rates coming down from 35 to 20 per cent.

Trump-bashing is the fashion of the moment, with anyone who is in the public eye jumping on this bandwagon. While I admit Trump is far from perfect (and who is?), I think he is trying to bring real change to the U.S., and this change is far overdue.

The alternative of having another Clinton administration in the U.S. would have been, in my opinion, a real disaster.

I saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s heartfelt apology, complete with tear trickling down his cheek. And I agree that what happened was a horrendous mistake. Let that be clearly understood.

But while Trudeau apologized on behalf of everybody in Canada, whether they were born yet or not, or had come to Canada yet or not, did I miss seeing an apology on behalf of any government of the time — specifically, but certainly not limited to, his dad? Was Pierre Elliot Trudeau not in charge of the country about that time?

Shouldn’t Justin Trudeau have at the very least offered an apology on behalf of the one person he knew personally who could have done something, yet did nothing?

April Beauvais

Glencoe

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Hike will harm

The increase in the minimum wage by the Ontario Liberal government from $11.60 an hour to ultimately $15 an hour, along with the other outlandish financial benefits, is insanity on a grand scale. This will require either increasing the price of goods and services, automation where possible, layoffs or the demise of businesses.

Realizing the extreme competitiveness of the marketplace, whether locally or internationally, there is no question the outcome of these obscene and radical wage increases will result in turmoil and failure in the domain of Ontario commerce.

The wage pie can be sliced only so many ways, hence the outcome for employees will result in lost jobs, downsizing, or closure.

This should be on Saturday Night Live. The Ontario Liberals have produced the biggest laugh for The London Free Press in recent years with this latest story.

MPP Deb Matthews says $1.6 million would be given to hire staff to evaluate ongoing programs in the poverty-stricken areas of Ontario. Don’t give the poor the money, Deb, just give it to your cronies in government to do yet more studies.

Any self-respecting government official would recognize the value of their programs from those who run them, yet this minister wants to hire others to do the job. Don’t help the homeless or provide more to front-line workers, just throw the cash down the drain and waste it on another unneeded study.

It is hard to keep laughing when it is our tax dollars again being misspent by a government hoping to claw back power.

Paul Leinweber

St. Marys

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Keep kids safe

Regarding the letter Coddled kids must learn (Nov. 30).

I was disheartened to see Mary Taylor’s letter about the crossing guard at Byron Avenue and Wharncliffe Road.

Of course children need reminders about road safety, but this is a very busy location with fast-paced and high-volume traffic. As a mother of young children, I would not let them cross that intersection alone and I suspect the parents who live in that area would tell you the same.

The crossing guards in London do an excellent job keeping children safe. London school children are taught road safety in their curriculum, as well as by community safety officers who visit their schools. But I know my child would not win when faced with a speeding car or an inattentive driver.

I would hope the majority of our community would rather see tax dollars spent on proactively keeping our children safe rather than paying out lawsuits for injuries or wrongful deaths.

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